Deception
by cheerprincess1294
Summary: When Sonic and the others make a crash landing on a strange new planet, things start to go out of whack. Love blossoms for some, while others just find more heartbreak. And can Silver EVER find Blaze? Knuxrouge, Sonamy, Tailream, Silvaze
1. A Light in The Dark

"Where are we?" Rouge asked Shadow as they both made their way through a dark, forest full of eerie looking trees.

"The doctor wants us to search for Sonic and the others here." Shadow responded as he ran ahead, the cold wind blowing hard against his black and red quills.

"In HERE?!" She remarked as she reluctantly followed him deeper, and deeper into the dark. "This is the last place I'd assume anyone would want to be."

Shadow stopped at a clearing and started rummaging through a bush. Confused, Rouge swiftly landed on the ground and glared at the black and red hedgehog. "I thought we were looking for Sonic?!"

He came out, holding a red jewel. Rouge's eyes widened and she stared at the bright gem that stood out in its gloomy surroundings. "A Chaos Emerald?" She grabbed it and twirled it around in her hand. "What's it doing out here?"

Shadow snatched the emerald back and glared at the bat. "Eggman ordered us to give him anything we find."

Rouge groaned and placed her hands on her hips. "Do you always do what Eggman says?" Before he could hear her, Shadow sped off, heading towards Eggman's base. She started to follow him, but stopped, hearing a familiar groaning noise. The bat tuned her dainty ears to the sound and ran towards it. She stopped to a screeching halt as she saw Knuckles lying on the dark, cold floor, groaning in pain.

He appeared as if he was beaten up pretty badly, and the spikes on his knuckles were shattered. The very sight of him being so injured made her cringe. Rouge worriedly propped the echidna up on her shoulder and started to ascend up into the sky. She desperately scanned the area for any sign of water, and luckily found a small river. The bat gracefully landed by the river, steadily keeping Knuckles by her side. Carefully, she laid him down and tried to wake him up.

"Knuckles?" Rouge called out softly and held his hand. Seeing the once strong and practically invincible echidna look so helpless made a tear roll down her cheek.

"Rouge…?"

Knuckles wearily opened his eyes to see Rouge looking down at him. "What happened to you?" Rouge moved closer to him, startled by his sudden awakening.

"We were fighting some monster in this forest…." He looked around, afraid that there would still be more around. "All I can remember is going to fight him….we were losing, and all of us had gotten injured."

"Who were you fighting with?" Rouge perked her ears up.

Knuckles winced, now feeling the pain from the beating he had taken. "Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Cream. We were no match for that thing….and I had passed out before the fight was over. I have no idea how I ended up here….or even where everyone else is." He tried to stand up, but growled as the pain surged throughout his body. Rouge placed her hands around his chest, slowly bringing him back down to the ground. "It's ok…I'm here for you." She smiled as she looked at him with her sparkling turquoise eyes.

Knuckles gratefully leaned against a tree, and started to feel his sore hands. The sharp spikes that were once on his knuckles were now replaced with a rigid stub of white. He shook his head in disbelief and set his hands back down on the ground. Rouge sat down beside him and worriedly ran her hands through his dreadlocks. "I'm just glad you're alive…you look pretty banged up."

Knuckles blushed and nervously looked down at the ground. "I'll be fine…I just hope everyone else is alright. Next time I see another of those monsters, they're really going to get it for what they did to me!" He lightly punched his fists together, careful not to hurt himself again.

Rouge smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You never change, do you, Knuxie?" Knuckles felt his face grow hot, and he felt nervous. She had always made him feel like this, and it got worse as she moved closer to him. He had no clue if he should make a move, or if he even had the courage to.

All Knuckles felt he could do was sit there, frozen upon the very touch of Rouge the Bat.


	2. Letting Go

"Tails, do you think Sonic will be alright?" Amy sat by the window of the Blue Typhoon, not wanting to wake up Sonic. During the battle with the mysterious monsters, he had gotten injured also, and at the moment he was supposed to be recovering in the other room. "

He should be fine." Tails responded as he furiously typed on his control board.

"It's Knuckles I'm worried about." Cream was right next to Tails, curiously watching everything he was doing; pretending that she knew exactly what was going on. "He disappeared after that fight." Her chao, Cheese, flew by her side, singing a happy little tune, and both the fox and rabbit smiled. Amy sighed as the two continued talking to each other. _Young love_…..if only she and Sonic could spend as much time together as Cream and Tails did. He was always busy doing something, wether it was saving the world, or just plain running. It seemed as if spending time with her was the least of his concerns.

"GOTCHA!"

Amy jumped back, feeling a pair of warm hands gently grabs her shoulders. She turned around to see Sonic's handsome face smiling directly at her. "Sonic!" She cried joyfully and wrapped her arms around him. "You're ok!"

Sonic just stood there with a wide grin spread across his face. "I won't go down that easy!"

Tails stopped talking with Cream for a moment and glanced over at the two hedgehogs hugging on the other side of the ship. "Sonic, what are you doing out of bed?!" He worriedly ran over to where the blue hero was. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Sonic smirked as he haughtily kicked his legs back, doing a quick back flip. "I'm fine, Tails. I've been cooped up in that room for way too long; I might as well go out for a run." He winked and Tails walked away, giving him an understanding nod.

"For….a run?" Amy stared into his eyes, waiting for his response. Whenever she looked into Sonic's eyes, she felt at ease, as if nothing in the world could take her down. For some reason, Sonic had this warm feeling about him, and he seemed to bring out the best in everyone.

Sonic blushed and looked down at the ground uncomfortably. "Yeah. Maybe I'll find out more about those monster freaks…"

Amy's smile suddenly faded and her heart dropped. Didn't he see how worried she was about him? And now, all he could think about was going out to run, and probably get hurt again. He didn't know how long she stayed up, just making sure he was ok….and he didn't even care.

Sonic noticed her disappointment and tilted his head to the side. "Is there something wrong, Ames?"

Amy practically melted. He looked like some cute innocent puppy who didn't realize he had done anything wrong. She quickly shook her head, trying not to fawn over him again.

'No." Amy stated simply and started to walk away.

The whole confrontation…was all so different. Normally, Sonic would be the one walking away from her. She felt guilty for making Sonic feel so bewildered, and all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him again and tell him how much she cared and how glad she was that he wasn't dead. Somehow though, she resisted, and kept going forward. She scanned through her mind, remembering all the times Sonic had run away, or made her feel like she was of no worth to him. It was in this moment that she realized…she had to let Sonic go.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The sun shone brightly over the trees, waking up Rouge. She stretched her arms and glanced over at the sleeping echidna to her side. She smiled, assuming she had fallen asleep next to Knuckles last night. Knuckles was still sleeping undisturbed, resting his arm over his muscular chest. He was a very good-looking guy, but that wasn't the only reason Rouge was attracted to him. He was so devoted to protecting the Master Emerald, and his determination intrigued her. Gazing at him now, she felt guilty that she had to leave him alone. But if she didn't find Eggman and Shadow soon, they would come looking for her. So, as quick as that, Rouge spread her wings and flew off to find them.

Sonic's POV

I was running…but I didn't know where. All I could see was the dark, stormy sky ahead, but I could hear a voice calling out for my help.

"Sonic!"

It just kept screaming, but I couldn't yet identify who the voice belonged to. My feet skid across the grass, and I stopped at a small crack in the ground. On the other side, I saw Amy lying on the ground, badly injured. "Sonic…" She cried out softly as her beautiful green eyes looked up to see me.

"Amy!" I shouted, but as I took a step towards her, the crevasse in the ground grew wider. The space between us became so great, that all I could see was a tiny glimpse pink and red on the other side. "AMY! NO!" I called out as the space among us just kept growing wider and wider. In desperation, I bent my knees and jumped into the black depths beneath us.

"**SONIC!!!!"**

I opened my eyes to see Tails staring down at me with a worried look on his face. "You must have been having a nightmare, because you were screaming in your sleep." He said as I sat up in my bed.

"Yeah I guess so…." My heart was beating fast, and I felt as terrified as I was in my dream.

"Are you alright?" Tails sat down on a chair in the room, sensing that I wasn't feeling right. "I heard you shouting for Amy, but she was outside and didn't hear you."

"Tails….."I stuttered, now pacing around the room. "Do you think I'm losing Amy?"

The fox cocked up an eyebrow and gave me a hard stare. "What do you mean?"

My heart pounded, remembering the dream, and how Amy has been acting around me lately. "She hasn't been paying much attention to me, and whenever I try to talk to her, she walks away. Do you think it's something I did?" I stared out the window, watching Amy quietly stand by the dock of the ship. The expression on her face…looked so sad….unlike the way she used to seemingly radiate with happiness.

"Probably," Tails responded and joined me by the window. "Whenever Amy is upset like this, it's because of you."

I winced as I thought of all the times I've ran away from her.

"You don't exactly show Amy how much you care about her." Tails went on, "It must be heartbreaking for her to always devote her attention to you, but all you do is brush her off like nothing. Maybe she's finally given up on you…"

Hearing those words, I felt as if my heart had broken as well. Never, had I ever thought that my careless actions would make Amy stop caring about me.

"I can't lose her!" I shouted before rushing out the door to talk to Amy.


	3. Heartbreak

Knuckles opened his eyes, finally waking up from a deep sleep. He definitely needed it from the beating he had endured yesterday. The echidna glanced over to his side, expecting Rouge to be there, but to his surprise, she was gone.

"Rouge?" He called out and stood up, hoping that she was still around. Despite how irate he acts around he, he really did enjoy her company. Knuckles walked to the edge of the river and splashed water on his tired face.

"Knuckles?" A high-pitched voice called out and he turned his head.

"Cream?" He watched the small rabbit and her chao run towards him. "What are you doing here?"

Cream's eyes widened as she stared at Knuckles' broken fist. "I was out exploring with Cheese when I saw you. What happened to your hand?"

Knuckles rubbed his fists and looked up at the sky. "It's those things we were fighting. Somehow, I ended up lost in this forest. Rouge was here but…." His voice drifted off and Cream nervously held Cheese by her side, remembering the awful fight the team had gone through. "I'm sorry I haven't seen her. But the Blue Typhoon is over there." She pointed towards a large spacecraft sitting on a clearing in the woods. The Blue Typhoon stood out in its position; it looked so out of place in the dark forest of trees.

"Oh…" Knuckles muttered and started walking towards the ship. Cream innocently followed behind him with Cheese faithfully trailing along.

Amy's POV

"Amy!"

I whipped around, hearing a familiar voice shout out my name. Oddly enough, it was Sonic, running towards me with a concerned look on his face. "What did I do, Amy? Please…" He held my hands and looked deep into my eyes. "I want to make things right."

"What….?" I mumbled, confused as to what he was shouting about.

"You've been…ignoring me." He looked down at his feet. "I was wondering what I did to make you so upset."

Reluctantly, I didn't answer and just started to walk away from him. "I don't have to be around you all the time, Sonic." I said, trying to keep myself from going back with him. "It's not like I'm in love with you or anything. You aren't the only thing I care about."

Even I myself, was shocked as the untruthful words came out of my mouth. The first thing I wanted to do was apologize, but I couldn't. If I didn't let go of him now, I would never be able to later; and my whole life I would be trying to love someone who had no feelings back for me whatsoever.

"What do you mean, Amy?" Sonic ran up to me and grabbed my arm with a hurt expression on his face.

"I mean that I'm done, Sonic!" Tears started running down my face as I struggled in Sonic's gentle grasp.

"Huh….?" He stuttered, wondering why I was so upset.

"Ever since the day we met, all I did was show you how much I cared about you!" I was practically screaming at him now. "But never, not once in my life, have you ever told me that you cared about me! It's like I don't even exist to you! I'm through with all the hurt, all the running!" I looked down at the ground and tried to hide my tears.

"Amy….I didn't know…" Sonic mumbled, shocked.

He tried to move towards me, but I jumped back. "I never want to see you again, Sonic the Hedgehog!" I yelled before running off alone, in the cold desolate forest.

And this time, I wasn't coming back for anything.

Sonic's POV

I stood there frozen, watching her run away from me as if I was some kind of monster. Everything she said was true, yet, it felt like I was hearing it for the first time in my life. Suddenly, my legs gave out on me, and I sat there, kneeling on the ground. I touched my face and stared back at my hand in shock. Tears. Not caring who could see me, I let myself cry. I had never felt so rejected, so alone, or so hurt before, and I could only imagine how much worse Amy was feeling. The pain I was feeling was worse than getting beat up by the toughest robot, or shot by the largest military tank. It was heartbreak.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What's wrong with Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked, looking out the window of the Blue Typhoon. Both her and Knuckles had just entered the ship, and were confused as to why Sonic was standing outside, alone in the rain.

Tails joined her and worriedly stared out at the blue hedgehog. "I didn't see much, but he got into a huge fight with Amy this morning…..and now….she's gone."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow and gave him a hard stare. "What do you mean….she's gone?"

"She ran off, somewhere out in that forest…" Tails pointed towards the seemingly endless forest of trees. No matter how bright the sun was shining, the area always appeared to be dark and gloomy.

"All by herself?!" Cream worriedly held Cheese by her side.

Knuckles stood up and looked out the window. "Does she have ANY common sense?! If she comes across another one of those monsters, she's a goner for sure!"

Tails opened the door and cautiously walked over to where Sonic was. He had been in that same spot all morning, staring out into the sky. "S-Sonic?" Tails took a step closer to him. "Are you alright?" Tails' eyes widened hearing that Sonic was softly crying. Sonic just stood there, hiding his face from the young fox. Tails stared at him with his deep blue eyes, and even though Sonic couldn't see him, he could feel Tails' concerning stare and it somehow convinced him to talk.

"Never in my life," Sonic spoke softly, still hiding his face. "Have I ever wanted Amy to hate me. And I ended up ruining her life."

Tails blinked hard and put his hand comfortingly on Sonic's shoulder. "I'm sure that Amy doesn't hate you, Sonic." Sonic pulled away, and Tails could actually get a good look at his face.

The hero that everyone looks up to; the strong, dedicated Sonic the Hedgehog, had finally broken.

His face was flushed with red and stained with tears. There was no longer a youthful sparkle in his eyes, but a sad, dull shine. "How would you know?! You weren't there when she broke down in tears because of ME!" He unintentionally started yelling at the fox, and Tails jumped back in fear and shock. Sonic looked down, ashamed of himself. "Now she's out there somewhere…I don't even know if she's alive. Especially with those freaks running around."

Tails started to fly up in the air and nodded his head towards the woods. "Come on Sonic," He smiled at the confused hedgehog behind him. "Let's go find Amy."


	4. Anger, Sadness, and Silver?

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Dr. Eggman shouted as Rouge the Bat strutted her way into the control room of the Egg Carrier.

"Around." She stated simply and sat down on an oddly shaped chair in the room with an Eggman symbol on it. The Egg Carrier was exceedingly large, and she sometimes wondered how anyone could make their way through it without getting lost. She had spent most of her time trying to find Eggman and Shadow on this ship, and now that she was finally here she could take a break from flying and walking around.

"You were with that echidna, weren't you?" Shadow smirked and asked quietly as he tossed the red chaos emerald in his hand. Rouge slightly blushed at the mention of Knuckles and turned her head to the side, facing Eggman's control board.

"We're planning on attacking the Blue Typhoon in three days…but we need you to steal the Master Emerald before the attack is started." Eggman tugged on his protruding mustache. "I could definitely have some use with that much power…" He walked up behind her and started pressing some buttons on the control board.

"What?! I'm not going to steal the master Emerald for YOU!" Rouge cried out and folded her arms over her chest. "Who said I wanted to help you anyways?"

Eggman gave her a hard stare and went back to whatever he was typing. "With all that energy, I would be unstoppable! Eggmanland will finally come to be!" (Sonic Unleashed ^^) He cackled and stared admiringly at the chaos emeralds.

"Forget it….I'm not helping you." Rouge haughtily started to walk away. If anyone was going to steal that emerald, it would be her, and there was no way, if she ever managed to get it, she would give it to Eggman.

"No…" Eggman taunted her and commanded two of his robots to grab her arm before she walked out the door. She struggled under the firm clutch of their cold, metal hands as Eggman pranced to where she was being held captive. "You work for ME." He flashed her a dastardly smile. "You wouldn't want me to do anything drastic, now would you?"

Rouge anxiously nodded her head 'no', and Eggman went on.

"Then you WILL cooperate. I need the Master Emerald by 8:00 on the third day…" He brusquely pulled out a pocket watch and dangled it in front of the bat's terrified blue eyes. "Or your time…" He carelessly tossed to watch to the ground, smashing it with his heavy black boot. "Will be up."

The doctor snapped, and the robots released their grip on Rouge. She immediately flew out of the building as fast as her wings could take her, terrified of what was yet to come. Eggman turned his head to the black and red hedgehog standing in a dark corner of the room. "Shadow, I want you to spy on Sonic and his friends. Bring me back some information I can use against them."

Shadow frowned and kept tossing the chaos emerald in his hand.

"Do not fail me, Shadow."

Shadow held the emerald tighter in his hand and used chaos control to teleport out of the Egg Carrier.

________________________________________________________________________

Amy's POV

I had no idea where I was, but I did know that I was all alone in the dark, cold, forest. It was snowing, and I much as I would have loved to sit and enjoy the beautiful scenery, I had to keep going. The only thing I could do was keep running forward, just as Sonic. He once told me that when he runs, he forgets all his troubles; but I guess that only works for him. My mind was definitely not clear, but racing with thoughts of all that Sonic and I have been through. As much as I hate him right now….I know that he'll always be a huge part of my life….and my heart. But the more I think about Sonic….the angrier I get. Right now, all the anger and sadness seemed to fester inside me, and the bad memories taunted me, replaying over and over again in my mind. No matter how far away I was from Sonic, I would still be unhappy. I was broken from my thoughts when I felt a cold hand grab my back.

"Amy…..?"

I quickly pulled away and just kept running, afraid of who it was. Instinctively, I pulled out my hammer and started spontaneously swinging it.

"Amy, stop!" The voice called out and I felt my hammer being lifted out of my hands. "It's me…Silver!" Sure enough, a white-gray hedgehog was standing right in front of me, holding my hammer nervously in his hands.

My eyes widened and I impulsively snatched my hammer back. "SILVER?! What are you doing out here? You nearly scared me to death!"

Silver rubbed his arm and stepped back a little afraid that I would pull out my hammer again. "If anyone was going to die it would be me with the way you were swinging that hammer! I came out here to look for Blaze….who knew I'd find you out here in this forest?"

I raised an eyebrow, hearing the cat's name. "Blaze? I thought she was…gone?" It had been a breezy autumn day, and as usual, we were all just hanging out in Station Square. Nobody thought much of anything when Blaze went off to go explore, as it was a hobby of hers….but after a couples hours, we all started to get worried. The whole team must have looked all over the town, but not a trace of her was found. Her disappearance hit Silver the hardest, as he had been her best friend for years. It was easy to see that Silver had feelings for her, and ever since that day, he had gone practically insane.

"SHES STILL ALIVE!" Silver exclaimed, crunching the snow under his boots. "I'm going to find her, even if it takes the rest of my life to do so!" He stared at a tall tree by me, then ran up to it and kicked it in frustration. Snow came tumbling down on his body, almost blending in with his fur color.

"Silver, if she's alive…" I started, trying to explain to him that she wouldn't be here.

He glared at me and rubbed his hands together, "Which she STILL is."

I sighed, nothing could convince him once he had his mind set on something. "Yeah…but she wouldn't even be on this planet. Don't you remember when we all crashed on this planet a few days ago? The Blue Typhoon lost all its energy?" Eggman had also crashed on here, trying to destroy Sonic, as usual. But his plan backfired when his space craft had lost all energy, keeping him trapped on this odd planet as well.

Silver blinked hard, seemingly scanning his empty mind for the moment. "I think I was asleep when that happened…."

I slapped my forehead and stared hard him. "Forget it….but just keep in mind that you aren't going to find her here." I started to walk away, getting annoyed by having to explain everything again.

"Wait!"

Silver called out, and I looked back to see the hedgehog buried under a dense pile of snow. "Can you at least help me get out?" He tried to shake the snow off, but he ended up hitting the tree next to him, dumping even more snow on his frozen body. I giggled, feeling happy for the first time all day.


	5. Chao's Victory

"Amy?!"

Sonic called out desperately as he sped through the forest with Tails flying behind him. They had been searching for hours, and there was still no trace of Amy. The blue hedgehog was more determined than ever to find her, and he had been running nonstop through the snow looking for her, not caring how cold it was. Staying true to Sonic, Tails regrettably went with him. He actually felt sorry for him, seeing how heartbroken he was. Every so often, Tails would glance at Sonic, and there would be tears in his eyes just yelling her name. Trying to be tough, Sonic would turn his head away and act as if he hadn't a care in the world. It's how he always acted.

He had this reputation for being so strong and invincible, but deep down, Tails knew Sonic really was a normal guy. True, he had saved the world numerous times fearlessly, but he did have two weaknesses: water, and Amy Rose. Many of his friends had found his fear of water quite amusing, especially Knuckles. But nothing was compared to the way he felt about Amy. Sonic would do anything for her, and the strange part was that everyone seemed to know this except Amy. She had no idea how much Sonic cared about her; and none other was expected with the way he acted around her. Tails wondered if Sonic had taken girl advice from Knuckles, which was never a good idea considering that he got all bent out of shape whenever Rouge was within 10 feet of him.

The fox suddenly stopped flying, seeing footprints on the ground. He studied them for a minute, noticing their familiar shapes. "Sonic!" Tails called out to the hedgehog standing at the top of a tree, scanning the area. "Take a look at these!"

Sonic leapt down, landing in a perfect manner, and walked to where the footprints were. "…..What's so special about them?" He stared blankly at the ground, and Tails scratched his head.

Sometimes it seemed like he was speaking a different language when he was around everyone else. Being incredibly smart, he thought of things that no one else could, but to him, this intelligence was a disadvantage. He often felt so outcast from the rest of the group, and it bothered him that he could never share his scientific discoveries with anyone. The only one that would listen to him was Cream the Rabbit. Although she pretended like she was comprehending every word, Tails knew that she actually had no idea what all his babbling meant. What mattered to him was that she actually cared.

The small rabbit would stand there, listening to every word with her large, cream colored ears, not concerned about how long or confusing Tails' speeches were. He admired that about her along with many other things.

"These footprints appear as if they were made by boots. Quite recently too if they're still here." Tails tried to explain to Sonic, who was still not getting the whole importance of finding the footprints.

"Tails! We're looking for Amy! Not a bunch of boot markings…" The hedgehog scoffed as if he knew exactly what he was talking about.

Tails lost his temper and started growling a bit, but knew his boundaries and that Sonic was older than him and could easily gain authority. But as all brothers do, the two did sometimes get into arguments. "AMY wear boots!!" The fox yelled as if he was talking to the dumbest thing on Earth. Of course, Sonic was definitely a smart and clever guy, but right now, he was so upset and heartbroken that not even his mind could function properly.

"Oh…" Sonic's ears drooped, ashamed of how oblivious he had been. "Great job, Tails! All we have to do is follow the boot prints…right? Then we'll find Amy?" He asked hopefully as he carefully walked along the trail of snow.

"I'm not completely sure…" Tails started to ascend in the air, his tails waving rapidly in a circular motion. "But we might as well see where they lead."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Cheese wins…again…" Cream said for probably the 800th time as Knuckles was angrily playing Sonic Adventure Battle 2 with the small chao, determined to finally win a game.

"HOW AM I LOSING TO A FREAKIN CHAO?!" He shouted as he threw the controller on the ground and started to throw a fit.

Cheese, as usual, sang a random tune, still holding the game controller in his tiny little paws.

Cream rolled her eyes and handed Knuckles his controller. "Cheese is good at video games…I think he's been watching Mr. Sonic play too much…" She glanced at her chao, who was innocently pushing buttons on his controller. It was surprising that he actually knew exactly what he was doing.

"Is that chao playing against the Knucklehead over there?" A shady, feminine voice called out mysteriously from behind them.

The rabbit was startled, and turned her head to the familiar voice. "Ms. Rouge? What're you doing here?"

"Just came to hang out with my FAVORITE red echidna…." She said as she waltzed over to Knuckles himself, stressing the word 'favorite'. All she did was simply poke his shoulder, and Knuckles immediately dropped the controller, getting nervous because he now knew that she was there.

"What are you doing here, batgirl?!" He jumped back, and she gently placed her hand on his arm.

"I came to see how you were doing since that night…" Of course, she really had come here to steal the Master Emerald, but she also was worried over his broken fist.

"You came here to check on me?" Knuckles raised his eyebrows, shocked over her concern. He lifted his hand and turned it over to the side with the spikes. Much to Rouge's relief, the spikes had grown back some, being now small pointy squares instead of rigid stubs.

"I'm doing fine. I'm a quick healer." He said, full of pride as he placed his hand by his side once again.

Rouge smiled and turned her attention to the TV, where the game was still going on despite the lack of attention from the 2nd player. "Aren't you supposed to be playing against Cheese?"

"OH CRAP!" Knuckles hastily grabbed the controller and started pushing buttons, trying to make up for the lost time. Unsurprisingly, his attempts were futile, and the chao won in a matter of seconds.

"What's the final score?" Knuckles barked at Cream, anxiously wondering how many points he had scored against Cheese, if any.

Cream sighed and read the results aloud. "Final score…Cheese…137 points. Knuckles….1 point."

"I ONLY GOT ONE POINT?!" He shouted as Cheese seemingly teased him by dancing around the room.

"The only point you got was when you sat on Cheese and pretended like he ran away…" The rabbit pointed out, still upset that Knuckles had squished her best friend. The echidna mumbled something barely audible and pouted as he lounged on the couch.

"Hey Knucklehead," Rouge gently grazed her fingers along his muscles, sending an odd sensation throughout his body. Knuckles blushed and scotched over to the other side of the couch, nearly falling off. Sometimes he thought she enjoyed tempting him like that, just to see his reaction. As much as he loved it when she touched his shoulders, or rubbed his hands, he was confused as to why she did it. Knuckles knew that she was indeed flirting with him, but he didn't know wether she was doing it because she liked him, or just because she was a flirt.

As if she read his thoughts, Rouge grabbed his hand and started to lead him outside. "I need to talk to you."


	6. An Emerald's Worth

"I thought you said you were going to help me look for Blaze…" Silver moaned as Amy tirelessly dragged him to wherever she intended on going.

"We will." Amy replied shaking her head every so often to keep herself from fainting. She had been wandering aimlessly through the forest all day, not stopping to rest or eat.

Silver had only been trudging along behind her for a few hour, yet he was already on the edge of exhaustion. "Then when exactly ARE we going to start?! I've been following you for hours because you said you would help me find Blaze, but all you've done is walk around and talk about Sonic every few minutes!" He yelled, frustrated, and tripped over a rock. The hedgehog screamed and threw the oddly shaped rock at a shiny object buried in the thick blanket of snow covering the ground.

Amy rolled her eyes and bent down to examine the sparkling item. That had been the THIRD time Silver tripped on a rock that day, and the fact that the nonstop running was driving him crazy didn't help his situation much. He was becoming even more mentally unstable than usual….which was definitely a bad thing.

"Silver…?" Amy turned the shiny gem around in her hand. "I think you've just found a chaos emerald!" She smiled and held the green gem close, feeling the power surge through her cold hands. "I wonder if Sonic would need this…" The pink hedgehog mumbled cheerlessly as she kept her head downcast.

Silver wasn't paying a bit of attention to her anyway, his eyes focused on a purple figure in a tree.

"BLAZE!! BLAZE!! IT'S YOU!!" His ears shot up and it appeared as if he had forgotten how tired and frustrated he was.

A little confused by his sudden outburst, Amy tried to make out the small figure sitting on a tree branch.

"Uhhhh…..Silver? That's not Blaze…it's a bird." She sighed as the small purple Flicky (Sonic Adventure) in the tree started to sing a high pitched melody.

"That's not a BIRD, Amy. It's Blaze! Can't you see the tail?!" He cried out jubilantly as he attempted to coax the bird into coming down.

"Flickies don't have tails! And last time I checked….Blaze was a cat…not a Flicky." She was really starting to believe that Silver had gone insane, considering his hallucination of Blaze as a bird. Leaving the poor, heartbroken hedgehog to find out the truth by himself, Amy scooped up the chaos emerald and gently dusted the snow off.

"What do you think you're doing with that, Ms. Rose?"

Amy reluctantly turned around, fearful of what she would find behind her. As she predicted, Eggman was standing only feet away from her with about 3 heavily armored robots ready to strike at his command.

"Go away, Eggman!" She shouted and held the emerald tighter. "These chaos emeralds don't belong to YOU!"

Eggman smirked and his robots took another step towards Amy. "Face it, you're powerless without your little boyfriend, Sonic, to save you!" He cackled, and as if his laughter was an order, the robots charged at her, trying to seize the emerald out of her hands. In any other case, Amy would have taken out her hammer and knocked the living daylights out of Eggman and his henchmen, but she wasn't about to just give up a chaos emerald.

"Fine…you won't cooperate…then I'll just have to get rid of you!" He yelled and the robots grabbed Amy, being sure to nearly crush her so that she might drop the emerald. Hoping that Silver would do something to help, she persistently held on to the chaos emerald. Unfortunately, Silver was still not convinced that the small bird wasn't Blaze, and he was now shaking the tree to knock "Blaze" out.

Now sure that her death would be under the clutches of Eggman's robot, she started screaming as the grip tightened and slowly started to suffocate her. As if it were instinct, she felt one last name escape her lips before she fell to the ground: "Sonic."

"AMY!!!"

A familiar, soothing voice cried out in despair; and Amy blinked her eyes open to see a very concerned blue hedgehog kneeling beside her, lovingly pressing his warm hand against her lifeless face.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Rouge…why did you want to talk to me here?" Knuckles asked nervously as Rouge led him to the Master Emerald altar.

"The Master Emerald summit is the perfect place to talk. It's so….._romantic_." The bat seductively winked at the blushing echidna.

"Uhhh….yeah…"Knuckles avoided her gaze as much as possible. "Why did you want to talk to me anyway?"

Rouge placed her hand on the Master Emerald and twisted her body in a position she knew very well to be sexually attractive. "Us."

"U-Us? W-What about us?" He stammered and glanced at Rouge's awkward position.

She giggled and flounced to where Knuckles was standing. ""Do you know how _cute_ you are when you're confused?" She placed her hand around his fit body and pulled him in closer to her face.

"W-What do you think you're doing, Rouge?!" Knuckles jumped back trying, afraid, mostly because he had never been this close to a girl before….especially Rouge.

"I'm trying to KISS you, silly!" She made her words sound as flirty as possible. Even though she seemed to be confident on the outside, inside of her was screaming with fear and guilt. Rouge did like Knuckles, a lot more than she could understand, but seducing him in order to get the Master Emerald was the last thing she wanted to do.

"You want to….kiss me?" Knuckles blushed and backed into the Master Emerald, nearly tripping.

Initially, Rouge had planned on getting together with him, then running away with the Master Emerald while he was distracted. But seeing him now... the confused, embarrassed look on his face, his nervous attitude…it somehow struck her. Realizing how much it would hurt him if she deceived him like that, she ran down the altar, leaving Knuckles standing there, flustered.

"Rouge?! Wait!" He started to chase after her, determined to get some answers.

The bat increased her speed and tried to shake Knuckles off her trail. She kept running through the snow until she could no longer hear him calling out her name.

"Rouge?"

She immediately tried to get away, but felt a strong grip on her shoulder. Rouge let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was just Shadow. "Shadow, what're you doing here?" Her voice was still airy from her escape.

"The doctor wanted me to check on your progress." Shadow folded his arms over his chest and waited for a response.

Rouge gulped, now getting anxious. She had to somehow lie about this. Remembering how terrible she felt trying to steal the Master Emerald by seducing Knuckles, she knew it wasn't possible for her to do it again. "I'm going to get it from that dumb echidna, don't worry. He's nothing but a gullible little annoyance. It won't take me to long to steal the rock from him…I still have two days, right?"

She looked at Shadow for an answer but his attention seemed to be fixed on a certain red echidna hiding behind a bush, staring at Rouge as if she were some kind of ghost.

"Knuckles!" Rouge shouted, horrified that he had been listening to her the whole time.

"So that's the only reason you pretended to like me?! To get the Master Emerald?!" Knuckles angrily stormed up to Rouge, his face turning as red as his fur. Shadow used chaos control to teleport as far away from the two as possible, sensing how ugly this fight could get.

"No, Knuckles! Please just listen to me!" Rouge yelled, tears streaming down her face.

"NO!" He roared, anger filling his broken heart. "I thought…we had something. IT WAS ONLY THAT DUMB ROCK YOU WERE AFTER!"

Rouge's ears dropped, not wanting to hear his rejection. "THAT'S NOT WHY I WANTED THE MASTER EMERALD, KNUCKLES!" She stuttered, but was cut off by Knuckles.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, ROUGE?! I LOVED YOU….OK?!" Knuckles shouted, but as he did this, a tear rolled down his cheek. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before…you never really cared about me…" He said, depressed as he silently walked away. Before completely disappearing into the fog, he turned his head and gave her one last look.

"I loved you…." He mumbled sadly as if he were trying to explain this to himself.

As much as she wanted to go after Knuckles…some part of her felt the need to just sit there in the snow, drowning in her own tears. His words rang through out her mind…

"I loved you…"

Out of all the things he's yelled to her, all the names he's called her…these were some of the most powerful words she's ever heard him say. Yet, they were also the worst; and the most heartbreaking part about them was that she didn't even know. But the one thing did know….was that she still loved him. And that was one thing that would never change.


	7. The Rescue

"Sonic…you're here…" Amy whispered as the blue hedgehog delicately brushed his hand over her cheek.

"Hang in there, Ames…" Sonic stayed by her side, but turned to give Eggman a death glare. "What did you do to her?!"

Eggman triumphantly grabbed the chaos emerald Amy had dropped and looked down at the two without a hint of remorse. "She wouldn't give me the chaos emerald I so greatly deserve…so I simply had to exterminate her."

"Those are our emeralds! They don't belong to you, Eggman!" Tails exclaimed and dove for the chaos emerald. Before he could reach it, one of Eggman's robots caught his tails and brutally tossed him towards a tree. The fox fell to the ground in a mangled orange heap of fur.

"Tails!" Sonic gaped at the innocent fox who had done nothing but try to help, then returned his attention to the aggressor.

"Don't even try to stop me, Sonic!" Eggman hollered as he ran to the small aircraft he had waiting for him. "I have all seven chaos emeralds, and when I get that Master Emerald, YOU'RE going to be the first to go!" With his robots in tow, Eggman flew off, leaving Sonic in the dust with his two injured friends.

"Tails…?" Sonic ran to his long time pal, hoping that he had not been hurt to the same extent as Amy. "Wake up!"

Tails slowly opened his eyes and rubbed his head as he staggered off the ground. "Did I…did I get the chaos emerald?" He looked up at the hedgehog, still trying to recover from the knock he'd received from Eggman.

"Eggman flew off with it." Sonic hissed through his teeth and watched the sky as if Eggman were still there. "He didn't hurt you, right?"

Tails managed to smile as he grabbed his sore arm. ""If you're not giving up yet, Sonic…then neither am I."

Sonic messed with the young fox's bangs playfully and turned his gaze to Amy, who was still lying on the ground. It was an unsettling sight for him, and the guilt was building up inside of his heart. He took Amy's injury in as his own selfishness; for not stopping her, for not telling her how much he really cared on that day of her heartbreaking exit.

"Amy…" Sonic sighed and ran up to the limp pink body lying helplessly on the cold snow. He scooped her up in his arms and pulled her close to his chest, longing to hear her rhythmic heartbeat.

"BLAZE!!! COME DOWN!!!"

Sonic lifted his eyes from Amy to see Silver STILL shaking the tree violently. Despite all the havoc Eggman had caused stealing the 7th chaos emerald, Silver was completely unaware of this and was consumed in the idea that Blaze was the bird stuck at the top of the tree. The small purple Flicky that Silver had chosen to be his victim was hanging on for dear life as he continued his tirade.

"Silver?! What're you doing here?" Tails shouted, also observing the entertaining scene.

Silver instantly stopped shaking the tree and stared blankly at his friends, much to the bird's relief. "Sonic? Tails? When did you get here?"

"You didn't see Eggman come here?!" Sonic shouted, being careful not to lose his grip on Amy.

"No…" Silver replied and looked back to the tree. "Oh no! She's gone!"

Tails gave him a hard stare and redirected his interest to Sonic, who was worriedly stroking Amy's quills. "She'll be alright, Sonic….I'm sure Eggman didn't kill her."

Despite Tails' reassurance, Sonic just shook his head in disgrace. "This would have never happened if I would have told her…"

"Told her what?" Silver asked curiously, finally coming back to reality.

"Nothing." Sonic said bluntly, hiding his embarrassment by the question.

Tails smiled, being the only other besides Sonic to know what he wanted to tell her, and started to fly. "We'd better tell Knuckles and the others what happened."

"You're right, Tails." Sonic started jogging forward, still cradling Amy in his arms. "If we're going to fight Eggman, we'll need all the help we can get."

The team started moving through the snow, and noticing that he would get left behind again, Silver floated up in the air and tried to keep a steady pace behind them.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Is anyone here?" Sonic burst through the door of the Blue Typhoon. He turned the light on and gently set Amy down on the couch.

"Cream?" Tails called out hopefully, expecting her to still be here with Cheese.

"If you're looking for the rabbit here, you won't find her." A deep voice answered from the other side of the room, coming out from behind the computer.

"Shadow?! What're you doing here?!" Sonic jumped back and tightened his fists upon seeing the black and red hedgehog.

Shadow smirked and folded his arms over his chest. "I didn't come here to fight you, faker." The look on his face suddenly changed to a confused stare directed at Silver, who was trying to figure out the basics of a modern microwave. "I came here to _warn_ you."

Silver detected this and approached Shadow with a large grin on his face. "Hi! I'm Silver! Did you know that laptops aren't microwavable?" He pointed to the small computer jammed in the open door of the microwave, now catching on fire.

"My laptop!" Tails whined and ran to the microwave to scrounge up what was left of his computer.

"What did you come to warn us of?!" Sonic asked, shocked that Shadow would actually try to help them, and sat down beside Amy, lying unconscious on the couch.

"Dr. Eggman." Shadow said brusquely, trying to keep as much distance from Silver as possible. "He's got all seven chaos emeralds, and once he gets his hands on that Master Emerald, there's no point in taking your pitiable team in to try and defeat him."

"What about Cream?" Tails rejoined the conversation, holding burnt computer pieces in his hands.

Shadow grimaced and turned back to Tails. "Eggman has her also. If you want to see her again, I insist you go to Eggman's base before he gets in a bad mood."

"NO!" Tails instantaneously let go of the pile of laptop pieces, his jaw dropping. "Sonic, we have to do something!"

Sonic looked down and scratched his head. "We will Tails, don't worry. But we're not going to go right now…" He carefully placed a blanket over Amy, noticing her shiver slightly. "I can't just leave Amy."

Tails clenched his fists and started to whip his tails about angrily. "What about Cream?! She's alone with Eggman!"

Sonic stood up and stared directly at Tails, his eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry Tails," He said sternly, trying to remain calm. "But Amy needs me right now. Cream will be fine until Amy wakes up….then we can go rescue her."

"How can you say that?!" Tails growled and returned Sonic's angry glare. "You don't know what Eggman is going to do to her! We can't just sit here and watch Amy while Cream is in danger!"

Shadow scoffed and made his way out the door as the arguing continued. "This is pathetic."

Amidst the chaos, Silver was raiding the fridge to test how many of Sonic's chili dogs he could fit in the microwave all at once.

"Tails, my decision is final! We're going to stay here with Amy, and that's it!" Sonic threw himself on the couch and turned on the TV.

Tails groaned and ran towards the door. ""If you're not going to help me, then I'll save Cream without you!"

Sonic's eyes widened and he sneered at Tails' seemingly worthless words. "Are you crazy?! You can't face Eggman by yourself!"

Tails opened the door, feeling the harsh winter wind blow past his face. "Just watch me." With one last determined look at Sonic, he was gone.

"Hey, Sonic!" Silver was hopping up and down by the busted microwave excitedly. "The chili dogs are done! All 56 of them!!!"


	8. A Risk Worth Taking

Knuckles sat alone by the Master Emerald, intently watching his surroundings for anything that could steal it. As he stayed there, taking in the unfamiliar scenery, it seemed as if nothing was a threat. This normally would have calmed him, yet his mind set was far from calm.

"Rouge the Bat…"

The name would roll off his tongue flawlessly, as if none other could say the name with such adoration. But today, the beautiful name came off as bitter; full of grief. Her actions had hurt him even more than he knew, for Knuckles had never experienced this sort of pain. There had never really been any girls on Angel Island for him to talk to, and when Rouge was around, he often had no idea how to act. Most of the time he would argue with her over something so insignificant that by the end of the day, he wouldn't even know how the fight started. But every time he was with her, his heart would skip a beat and he felt as if he had no control over his actions.

"I loved you…"

Those last words; words he had wanted to tell her for years, had finally been said. It was the way he said them that scared him the most. _Did he still love her?_ The thought surged throughout him. In his mind, the answer was no. But in his heart, he didn't want to let go of the white bat that had intrigued him all these years. He pressed his hand against the Master Emerald, anticipating to feel the cold, hard exterior, but to his surprise he felt heat. He was immediately surrounded by a bright light, and he turned away in shock. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in the hallway of the Egg Carrier.

"What the heck is going on?!" Knuckles shouted, confused as to why the Master Emeralds was showing him Eggman's ship.

"Forget it! I'm not helping you!" A familiar voice screamed desperately from the room on the other side of him.

He carefully peeked from the doorway, but realized that he was traveling with the Master Emerald and could go unseen, and he stepped fully into the room.

"You wouldn't want me to do anything drastic, now would you?"

_Eggman. Who else would be on this ship?_ Knuckles looked to his right at a delicate figure being held by the robots. _Rouge! If only he could do something to help her…_

"You WILL cooperate. Bring me the Master Emerald in three days, or your time," Eggman dangled a watch near Rouge, her eyes wide with fear. "Will be up."

Suddenly, the bright light reappeared in front of Knuckles' face, and he was once again on the strange new planet. He stared out at the dark sky, rubbing his face. _That was why she had tried to take the Master Emerald…Not for her own selfish desires, but to stay alive. And the day when she has tried to kiss him was the perfect opportunity…but she didn't take it._

Knuckles grabbed the Master Emerald and started to make his way through the forest, his heart heavy with fear. Rouge's life depended on this very emerald, and as much as he didn't want Eggman to abuse it, he had to give it up. The only thing that mattered was her, and he wasn't going to stop until Rouge was safe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile in that same area of the forest, Sonic and Silver were frantically trying to find Tails.

"Tails! Please come back!" Silver floated up above the blue hedgehog, still holding a chili dog from his 'experiments'. Sonic paused for a minute, tired from running while holding Amy in his arms. First he had lost Amy, now Tails, and on top of that, he still didn't know wether either of them would forgive him.

"I'm an idiot!!" He screamed angrily, completely forgetting the fact that he was holding Amy.

"Yes, you are…" Silver descended to the icy ground below them, noticing Sonic's frustration.

"You should be the one talking…" Sonic muttered sarcastically under his breath as he regained his grip on Amy. Luckily, Silver didn't take notice of this and just ranted on about the importance of telling those you care about that you love them.

"Damn emerald!!!"

Both hedgehogs turned around to find none other than Knuckles the Echidna, struggling under the weight of the Master Emerald.

"Knuckles!" Silver ran up to him and tried to be of some help by dragging Knuckles out from under the large green rock.

"I don't need any help!" Knuckles growled as he once again started moving along with the Master Emerald.

"Hey, what's the big rush, buddy? I've got some new you might wanna hear…" Sonic stepped towards the irate echidna cautiously, knowing that he might snap at any moment.

"I'm not your _buddy_ and don't forget it." Knuckles grumbled, keeping his feet planted in one spot. "I don't see any reason to tell you where I'm going, so get out of my way!"

"Knuckles, calm down! Take a deep breath and count to three." Silver approached him with his fingers outstretched, counting along with himself. "1…2…"

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO LEARN THE NUMBERS SILVER! I HAVE TO SAVE ROUGE!" Knuckles screamed, unleashing his rage on poor innocent Silver. Silver blinked hard and sheepishly hid his hands behind his back.

"Whoa, hold up there, Knuckles. Did you say you needed to save Rouge?" Sonic raised an eyebrow and twitched his ears. Knuckles didn't reply and kept marching ahead with his emerald. Sonic slid across the snow with Amy, blocking Knuckles' path. "Tails is gone, Knuckles." He said gravely, hoping to finally catch Knuckles' attention.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "Gone? What do you mean _gone_?"

Sonic kept his head downcast in obvious shame. "He went off to face Eggman… we were hoping you'd help us stop him."

Knuckles suddenly became interested, looking at them with concern. "Eggman? By himself?! Hmph…" Knuckles dreadlocks waved handsomely as the harsh wind blew past him. "I have to see Eggman also…" His eyes drifted to Amy, who was still resting comfortably in Sonic's arms. "What happened to her?"

Sonic's face immediately darkened and he started to walk away slowly.

"Eggman." Silver answered for him and started to float back up in the air.

Knuckles decided to follow them, the emerald still grasped in his large hands. "Has he been moping around like that all day?"

Silver nodded and started to play with his hair. Knuckles trudged across the deep snow with the emerald, and Sonic was too busy gawking at Amy to run ahead of them.

"Sonic Heroooess... Sonic Herooess…"

Sonic and Knuckles looked up at the snowy sky above to hear Silver break the awkward silence with his off-key singing.

"Silver…" Sonic started, his face twisted in a bewildered manner.

The white hedgehog didn't pay attention to him and just kept on going. "SONIC HEROES!!!"

"SILVER!!" Knuckles yelled, startling Silver and causing him to fly into a tree.

"What?!" He moaned, annoyed his 'show' was being interrupted.

"SHUT UP!" Knuckles shouted, practically losing grip on the emerald.

"Fine…" Silver closed his mouth and played with imaginary specks of snow on his gloves. Regardless of the others discontent with his singing, a melodic whisper could be heard from the treetops.

"Live and learn! Hanging on the edge of tomorrow!"

Sonic and Knuckles longed to cover their ears.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Eggman!" Tails burst through the doors of the Egg Carrier.

"Foxboy?!" Eggman lifted his head from his newest project, looking around for any trace of Sonic. "What are _you_ doing here?!"

Tails growled and shook the snow off his body. "Where's Cream?!"

Eggman smirked and stood up, towering over the meek fox below him. "Ah, so you and Sonic came here for the rabbit?"

"I came here _alone_, Eggman!" Tails spat angrily, trying to make himself appear brave.

Eggman brushed his hands through his mustache and scoffed at Tails. "Listen…do you have ANY idea what you're up against?!" He remarked airily, as if his whole being was a practical joke.

"Just tell me where Cream is, Eggman!" Tails defiantly stared at him, frustrated that no one was taking him seriously.

Eggman snickered and walked towards his control board. "Did you actually think I would just hand the girl over?!" He cackled and pressed a button. A small slot opened in the floor and a cage popped out containing a small rabbit (Think Sonic X, episode 67).

"Cream!" Tails shouted and ran to the cage.

"Tails, are you here alone?!" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"I came here to save you!" Tails replied, trying to calm her down.

Despite this, Cream became even more frantic and brought her face closer to one of the four walls surrounding her. "You have to get out of here, Tails! Dr. Eggman has all the chaos emeralds!" The cage started to sink back into the ground and Tails desperately tried to keep her from leaving.

Eggman sneered and went to his computer. "Now that I've shown you the girl, you can be on your way. Tell Sonic to bring me a REAL challenge."

Tails clenched his teeth and tightened his fists heatedly. "No."

Shocked, Eggman turned back to the fox. "I'm warning you, Tails." He shot him a devilish glare. "If you challenge me, I'm not going to take it easy on you. You're taking a lethal risk by wanting to fight me alone."

Determined, Tails remained standing, not taking his eyes off the spot where Cream has vanished. "I taking a risk means saving Cream…" He looked fiercely at Eggman. "Then I'm going to take that risk without backing down." He gradually made his way towards Eggman, and waved his tails viciously behind him. "Give it your best shot."

Eggman snarled and went back to his control board. "Such confidence for a little fox… you're going to regret it!" In an instant, masses of Eggman's robots came crashing through the room, equipped with laser guns. Tails stepped back, trying to remain calm. One of the robots charged straight for him, but Tails avoided him and flailed upwards, landing on the floor unharmed.

"Don't hold back, Egg Pawns! I want that fox dead!" Eggman barked and the robots started blasting their guns at Tails. Dodging every shot, Tails used his tails to knock down a robot, swiftly managing to steal his gun.

Eggman frowned and watched the seemingly weak fox take out his army single-handedly. "I should end this before he actually gets far…" He mumbled crossly to himself and jammed the button on his control board. Once again, the cage rose up from the ground, and Eggman seized another gun, larger than that of his robots.

"Hey, Foxboy!" Eggman called out to Tails, who was down to the last few robots. Tails turned his head to find Cream, eyes wide as she stared helplessly at the end of Eggman's gun. "CREAM!"

Eggman grinned and targeted the gun at the rabbit's little head. "If I were you…I would surrender. The fate of the rabbit rests in your hands."

Without a word, Tails closed his eyes and immediately dropped the gun he was holding. "Do what you want to me…just…don't hurt Cream."

"Tails, no!" Cream shouted anxiously from inside the cage.

"Good." Eggman lowered his gun and faced what was left of his army. "Destroy him."

Tails jumped back in fear and glanced at Cream despondently. Suddenly, the robots attacked Tails, and the fox was lost in a pile of metal.

"TAILS!" Cream cried, her face pressed against the glass. She couldn't hear much but the loud kicks and punches that Tails received from the robots. Cream has never been so terrified in her life, and the horror became a reality when she saw one of the robots deal a hard blow to Tails' head.

"That's enough." Eggman ordered, emotionless, as if it didn't matter to him whether Tails was alive or not.

On command, the robots backed up to reveal a mangled heap of orange fur lying lifeless on the floor.


	9. With Great Power

"What are you doing?!" Knuckles impatiently glared at the white hedgehog rummaging through the snow.

"I'm looking for buried treasure!" Silver called out and continued digging, blending in perfectly.

Knuckles scowled and arrogantly stuck out his chest. "Trust me , Silver, being an expert treasure hunter, I know that a desolate, icy place like this wouldn't have any-"

"I found something!" Silver exclaimed and held up a small blue and yellow figure. Knuckles gaped in disbelief and Sonic stared hard at the small object.

"That's not treasure Silver…" He walked over to the area where Silver was standing, still holding Amy. "That's Cheese!"

Silver inquisitively poked the chao and shook him lightly. "It's dead!!" He threw Cheese at Knuckles, aghast.

"He's not dead!" Knuckles pointed out bluntly as Cheese slowly opened his small blue eyes. The chao immediately started yelping and flew out of Knuckles hands, terrified. "Oh, come on!!" Knuckles whined and raised his arms, glaring at Cheese offended.

Sonic gradually lowered himself and Amy to the ground and stared curiously at the chao, now shivering from the cold. "Hold on, Knuckles…I think that Cheese can lead us to Eggman!"

Knuckles scoffed and bared his teeth. "We don't need that video game cheating chao to help us! We were doing just fine with me leading the way!"

Silver perked his head up and shook the snow from his hair. "But I thought we were lost…"

"I did not get us lost!" Knuckles hollered and glared at Silver angrily. "I was just…testing you guys to see if you were paying attention! Yeah, that's it!" The echidna smirked, quickly regaining confidence from his own lie.

Sonic sweat dropped and turned his attention back to the chao. "Cheese, do you know where Eggman took Cream?"

Cheese nodded innocently and started to fly ahead with Sonic following behind. Regrettably, Knuckles trudged along with his emerald while mumbling a few inaudible curses about the chao.

"Hey…wait for me!" Silver rushed behind them, covered in snow from his treasure hunt.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you sure we have to go in THERE?!" Silver gulped as he looked up to see the large Egg Carrier seemingly tower over him.

Sonic frowned as the snow blew hard past his and Amy's quills. "Tails and Cream are in there alone. If anyone is going to save them, it's going to be us." He slowly walked inside the building with Silver cowering behind him. Knuckles worriedly glanced up at the sun setting above them and dashed inside.

"Knuckles, wait up, we're a team, remember?!" Sonic called out to the echidna rushing ahead of them.

"If you knew what I was about to do, you wouldn't want to be on a team with me." He stopped and glanced at them forlornly, then continued running ahead.

Silver turned to Sonic in confusion. "What did he mean by that?"

Sonic shrugged and kept walking forward. "Who knows what's going on in his mind? I wouldn't worry about it; let's just find Tails and Cream."

Cheese chirped frantically and zoomed through a door in front of them.

"I guess finding them is easier than I thought…" Sonic smirked and calmly went after Cheese. His smile soon faded as he saw a small rabbit leaning over an mess of fur on the floor. "Cream?" His voice cracked, and he winced at the thought of who was on the floor beside her.

"Mr. Sonic…" Cream slowly lifted her head to Sonic, her eyes filled with tears. "It's terrible…"

"What happened to Tails?!" Sonic looked back at Tails, then at Amy in his arms, his eyes wide with terror. "What have I done…" He whispered so low that no one could hear him.

"Eggman…" Cream spoke softly and listened to Tails' slow heartbeat. "You have to stop him before it's too late!" She lay there beside Tails in despair. "He went up to the balcony, and he said that when he got that Master Emerald, he would make sure we were all dead…"

"The Master Emerald?" Sonic gently set Amy down on the ground near Cream, and his ears shot up, realizing what Knuckles was coming here to do. "Knuckles! That idiot!" He banged his fists against the floor, then steadily rose back up.

"Silver." He turned to the white hedgehog staring at them with his mouth hanging open in shock. "You stay here and take care of them." He kneeled down beside Amy and affectionately brushed her hair out of her face.

"Me?!" Silver cried out, looking down at the three helpless people laying on the ground under him. "Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to stop Eggman, no matter what it takes." He started walking out the door, his fists tightly at his side. "Just make sure they stay here." With one last painful glance at Amy and Tails, he ran off to the balcony of the Egg Carrier.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eggman sat high in the Egg Carrier, excitedly placing the 7th chaos emerald in his power supply. "All I need now is that Master Emerald…" He cackled but his laughter came to an abrupt stop as Knuckles came crashing through the door, the Master Emerald in tow. "Must be my lucky day…" He grinned as turned around to face Knuckles. "What do YOU want?!"

"I came here to give you the Master Emerald." Knuckles stated bluntly and placed the Master Emerald on the ground.

Eggman raised an eyebrow. "You're just….giving it to me?!" His robots immediately started to lift the Master Emerald off the ground.

"Where's Rouge, Eggman?!" Knuckles demanded as he watched the robots carry off his emerald remorsefully.

"Rouge?!" Eggman laughed and delightfully watched his robots set up the Master Emerald in his power supply. "You gave up the Master Emerald for that batgirl?!"

"This isn't a joke, Eggman!" Knuckles shouted, anxious of what had happened to Rouge. "Where is she?!"

"Attack!" Eggman ignored his question and sent his robots to surround Knuckles, armed with even larger, more powerful guns than those they had used to assault Tails. Knuckles was instantly shot to the ground, his body frozen with pain.

"W-What're you doing?! I gave you the Master Emerald!" Knuckles grimaced, feeling as if he skin was set afire as he lay on the floor in total paralysis.

Eggman sneered and triumphantly waltzed to the echidna groaning on the floor. "And you though that was going to keep me from destroying you?!" He smirked and looked up the sky, now cloaked with dark gray clouds. "And just to be fair, I have no concern as to where Rouge is. Thanks to your gullibility, I didn't even need her to get full power!"

"In your dreams, Eggman!"

"Sonic?!" Eggman turned away from Knuckles and stared nervously at the hedgehog in front of the door.

"Is that how you have a good time, Eggman?!" Sonic shouted angrily as lightning crashed behind him in the dark stormy sky. "Hurting people?!"

Eggman stepped back in fright, noticing how worked up Sonic was. "Don't think you'll be able to stop me! Your friends got in my way, and I made sure there were gone, as I will with you, hedgehog."

Sonic glared devilishly at Eggman, his soul filled with anger. "Do you really think…" His fur slowly started to turn a dark blue, and he was immediately surrounded by dark energy (Yay for Dark Sonic! XD). "YOU CAN KILL ME?!"

Eggman backed into the wall, looking at Dark Sonic in alarm. "N-now Sonic….c-calm down…"

Dark Sonic approached him intolerantly, an evil smile plastered on his angry face. "There's no where to run, Eggman! I WILL GET MY REVENGE!!" He snickered as the storm seemed to get worse.

"SONIC, STOP!"

Dark Sonic looked back at the door in complete shock, his eyes widening. "A-Amy?"

Amy frowned and scrutinized what Sonic had become. "What happened to you…?!" She grimaced and held her hammer tightly as the rain fell hard upon them.

"Amy…" Dark Sonic stepped cautiously towards the pink hedgehog staring at him dreadfully. "I can defeat Eggman in one shot like this! The power is greater than anything I've ever felt before…"

Amy ran to him and grabbed his hands, desperately as he slowly gained more and more negative power. "Stop it! This power isn't good, Sonic, can't you see?!" She struggled not to cry as the lightning flashed near them. "It filled you with evil….this isn't the Sonic I know! Please…don't do this…I can't lose you!"

Sonic gazed at her shamefully, and he almost immediately turned back to normal. "Don't cry, Ames…" He wrapped his arms around her and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm not going to leave you…I promise."

"Fools!!!" Eggman called out joyfully from his power supply. "Don't forget that I still have full power!" Sonic and Amy turned back to Eggman, stunned, as the control board glowed with seemingly endless power.

Sonic headed for the control board and placed his hand on it in an attempt to stop it, but the plan backfired and energy pulsated through his body, sending him a painful shock.

"Sonic, no!" Amy cried and ran to Sonic, who was stooping down on the floor, clutching his hand.

Eggman cackled as his weapons and machines filled with the power of the emeralds. "Sonic, yes!" Eggman jeered and jammed a button on his control board. Down below them, a small robot exited the Egg Carrier. "Witness my latest and greatest creation, the Egg Killer!!!"

Sonic laughed a bit and looked down at the robot with Amy. "The Egg Killer? Very unique name, Eggman…what's that tiny thing going to do? Make us a sandwich?"

"Shut up!" Eggman screamed and stared at the robot anxiously. "Wait for it…."

Suddenly, the robot transformed, growing to be a terrifying height, as the chaos power surged through his power cord.

"Oh crap…" Sonic's ears dropped as he looked up the robot, his body armored with weapons.

"Yo, Sonic!" Knuckles slowly got up off the floor and stood beside them. "Are we going to fight or what?!"

"Knuckles?" Sonic looked back at the determined echidna and smiled.

"If you're going to fight Sonic, then I'll be right by your side." Amy grinned and held her hammer up.

Sonic glanced at his two friends then turned back to the robot, the rain falling down on the unstoppable team. "Alright….let's do this."


	10. The Return

The winter storm's rain fell to the ground without mercy, and every step taken splashed the cold water towards the air. This seemed of no hindrance to Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles as they rushed down to the monstrous robot below them.

"Hey, bolt brain!" Sonic called out as they arrived in front of the Egg Killer. "Let's see how use that armor of yours really is!"

The robot fumed and swung his giant arm at Sonic. The hedgehog quickly soared up in the air and skillfully landed back on his feet.

"Sonic, this is no time for fooling around!" Knuckles growled and bashed his fists at the Egg Killer. Completely unaffected by the punch, the robot simply looked down at Knuckles as if he were a bug.

"What?! Not even a dent…" The echidna stood there, shocked, then narrowed his eyes as he raised his fists up once more. He roared and started throwing his best attacks at the robot's foot in random.

"What is he doing?!" Amy raised an eyebrow and watched Knuckles furiously attack the robot's foot like a frustrated 5-year-old.

Sonic shrugged and turned back to Amy. "He gets mad when he doesn't break something…"

Amy sighed and examined the Egg Killer from where she was standing. "If Knuckles' attacks are useless, how are we supposed to do any damage?"

Sonic put his hand on her shoulder and grinned at the hammer she was holding behind her back. "Hey Ames…how hard do you think you can swing that hammer of yours?"

Amy beamed and shifted her weight as she flipped her quills over her shoulder in a flirty manner. "You wanna see?" She jumped up in the air whacking her hammer repeatedly at the Egg Killer's leg. The robot stepped back, annoyed.

"Don't just stand there!" Eggman ordered from the balcony. "Crush her!" The robot suddenly grasped Amy in its hand, ascending her up to its head.

Amy gulped as she stared into its large red eyes, full of hate and anger. "Sonic!" She cried, gaping for air as the Egg Killer started to increase the pressure it was using to hold the delicate pink hedgehog.

"Amy!" Sonic screamed as the robot instantly dropped her, sending Amy hurtling to the ground. He ran as fast as he was able, catching her right before she hit the floor.

"Amy, are you alright?!" Sonic panicked as he stared at Amy's closed eyes. She slowly blinked and gazed back at him with adoration. "I am now."

Sonic blushed as he began to lean his head in with hers, going in to kiss her.

"HEY!" Knuckles shouted and both hedgehogs quickly slid away from each other, embarrassed. "Hate to ruin your moment, but there's a psychotic robot trying to blast my head off!" He frantically slid around the ice, slimly avoiding the shots of the Egg Killer's guns while tripping every now and then.

"Hang on, Knuckles!" Sonic sped near the robot with Amy tagging along. He glanced at the Egg Killer and worriedly rubbed his nose.

"Egg Killer!" Eggman hollered from the balcony flamboyantly, his control board still glowing with the emeralds. "Aim for the blue one!" Hearing its master's command, the Egg Killer turned its guns to Sonic, this time a larger and stronger weapon.

Knuckles groaned and crashed to the ground, exhausted and wounded from all the fighting he had endured. As if the robots weren't enough, Rouge was gone. He had finally found out what had happened to her, and he didn't even get the chance to talk to her. "It's over…" He winced as the cold ice made the pain even worse. His life was forfeit to him now. It didn't matter whether Sonic and Amy would defeat the Egg Killer, and it didn't matter how broken his heart was. "I give up…" Knuckles closed his eyes and lay there, not concerned as to he could either be frozen or crushed to death.

"Get up."

He wearily lifted his head at the sound of the voice. "W-What?"

"Knuckles, I said get up!" The voice demanded firmly, but he could sense fear and agony in the soft, female tone.

Recognizing the voice, Knuckles' eyes widened and he stared up at total awe. "Rouge…?" He smiled weakly, but despite the command he didn't move from the dangerous spot he was in.

"Listen to me Knuckles, get up!" Rouge cried and urgently tried to help him get up. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"You…came back?" Knuckles showed absolutely no effort to help himself, and just gawked at Rouge, his eyes still halfway closed. She just nodded and urgently tried to assist him. He sighed and carelessly fell back to the floor. "I can't…go save yourself, Rouge." Knuckles frowned and buried his head in the ice. "I'm done…"

"NO!" Rouge anxiously pulled on his body, still trying to force him to move. "I'm not going to let you lay here and die!" She paused and tried to hide the tears streaming down her face. "Get up Knuckles….please." She sobbed and whispered words barely audible to anyone, but Knuckles heard them. "_I love you_…"

At that moment, the world stopped. Knuckles directly forgot any reason why he was laying there; why he wanted to die. His legs shaking, he gradually started to lift himself. The ice no longer stung his skin; the harsh wind and rain ceased to knock him down. With newly regained confidence, he stood tall, his feet firmly planted on the ground. His lips slowly curved into a small smile and he fixed his eyes on Rouge, who was staring at him as if it were a miracle. He opened his mouth to say something, but Rouge gently touched her finger to his mouth, hushing him.

"Go; fight and be the hero…" She regrettably squared his shoulder up so he faced Sonic, Amy, and the Egg Killer. "They need you right now. Don't worry…I'm not going to leave you again." She winked and hurriedly ran to the Egg Carrier to inform the others of what was going on.

Knuckles glanced back at the door for a second, then ran back to the Egg Killer, no longer feeling any of the pain he had felt moments ago.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Silver!" Rouge ran through the Egg Carrier, worn out as she tried to be quick in finding the others. She bent over and panted, feeling out of breath, as she stood behind Silver, Cream, and Tails.

Silver turned his head at his name being called. "Who's there?!" He lightly punched the airs as to show off his skills. "I have telekinesis powers and stuff and I'm not afraid to use them!"

Rouge sighed and went up closer to them. "It's Rouge, Silver. And right now, the others need your help." She bit her lip as she saw the two-tailed fox lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious.

Cream sadly looked up from Tails and perked her ears up. "What happened, Ms. Rouge?"

"Eggman's robot is powered by the chaos emeralds up there." Rouge placed her hand up her hip and tried to devise a plan as she paced around the room deep in thought. "Since the Master Emerald neutralizes the power of the chaos emeralds, all we have to do is remove it from Eggman's power filter, so Knuckles can control it."

"What about Tails?" Cream stood up and kept her fists at her side, as if refusing to not be torn away from him.

"What about me?"

In dead silence, Cream whipped around to see Tails slowly rise up from the cold metal floor. Despite how mangled and injured he was, the fox had a small grin plastered on his face as he kept his eyes focused on Cream.

"Tails…?" Cream gasped, and stared in wonder at what seemed like a dream. Tears burst from her eyes as she happily ran to him, wrapping her arms around him, as not to let go. "Tails! You're alive!" She joyfully buried her head in his furry chest as if she hadn't seen him in years.

Tails returned her hug and lovingly swathed his tails around her. "Eggman's going to have to try a lot harder if he wants to get rid of me." He affectionately stroked her fur, not caring if anyone could see him.

Rouge smiled and watched the two embrace each other. "Do you think you're well enough to fight again, Tails?" She grimaced as she finally noticed all the wounds the fox had received from Eggman's robots.

Tails nodded and kept his arm around Cream. "I'm not sure…but I can try." He looked down and closed his eyes, attempting to erase all memory of his beating.

"Alright, he's up at the balcony, but we'll have to stay quiet if we're going to get the Master Emerald." Rouge frowned and focused her attention on Silver.

Silver narrowed his eyes and twitched his ears. "What're you looking at me for?! I can be quiet!"

Rouge rolled her eyes and started to fly out the door with Tails and Cream not too far behind. Silver scoffed and grudgingly followed along. "I can be quiet…"


	11. The Battle

"This is going perfectly!" Eggman exclaimed and lightly spun in his chair as he watched Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles get tossed around by the Egg Killer. "It won't be long before Sonic collapses to the floor, and I will finally have control of this world!!" He snickered and continued to look over on the perilous battle. Unbeknownst to him, in the corner of the doorway there was another team plotting his downfall.

"Is Eggman talking to himself?" Silver leaned against the wall and listened in on Eggman, confused.

"Shhh!" Rouge pushed him out of the way and tried to tune in to what was going on. "Silver, I thought you said you were going to be quiet!" She whispered harshly and turned back to the team.

"How are we going to steal the Master Emerald without Eggman noticing?" Tails quickly changed the topic, trying to avoid a fight.

"That's the thing…" Rouge nervously shifted her weight about, but tried to remain clam as she whispered this. "He's going to notice…but if we can distract him, I'm sure we can grab the emerald and bring it to Knuckles before he can do anything about it."

Cream cowered behind Tails and kept her ears down. "Who's going to distract him?"

Rouge smirked and focused her eyes on Silver. Tails and Cream quickly caught on to this idea and grinned. The only person who didn't seem to get this was the main cause of it all.

"Why do you guys keep smiling at me?!" Silver crossly waved his arms, but luckily remembered to keep his voice down for once.

Rouge chuckled and placed her hand on Silver's shoulder. "I think it's time you had a little chat with Eggman."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hi!"

Eggman immediately stopped ranting on to himself and turned around, hearing someone behind him. He sneered at the white hedgehog smiling at him and waving his arms in a friendly gesture. "Who are you?!"

"I'm Silver! Did you know that laptops aren't microwavable?" Silver shook his hand and looked at him inquiringly.

Eggman narrowed his eyes ad pulled his hand away. "Yes, I knew that! Do I look like an idiot?!"

Silver nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.

Eggman fumed and glared at him angrily. "What are you even doing on my ship?!"

Silver glanced at Rouge, Tails, and Cream sneaking to the emerald from the corner of his eye and went back to face Eggman. "I came here to explain to you the importance of being kind to one another." He clapped, then sat down on Eggman's chair. "Let me ask you this, Dr. Eggman, are you kind to others?"

"IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?!" Eggman spat and furiously pushed Silver out of his chair. "I didn't order a psychiatrist, and I don't even know who the heck you are!!"

Silver lightly dusted himself off as he stood back up. "I'll take that as a 'no'…" He glimpsed back at the rest of his team carrying the Master Emerald out the door. "Well, I don't think my explanation will help, and I suggest you take yoga classes. Bye!" With that, Silver ran off to catch up with the others.

Eggman raised an eyebrow and irately mumbled to himself as he tapped his fingers on the table. "Yoga classes…?!" He scoffed and marched to his control board. "Now that he's gone, I can focus in destroying Sonic with the chaos emeralds and the-" His jaw dropped as his eyes fell on the empty slot where the Master Emerald was supposed to be. He gritted his teeth and heatedly clenched his fists together. "THAT IDIOTIC HEDGEHOG!!"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"This is impossible!" Amy whined and tiredly let her hammer fall to her side.

"We can't give up now, Amy! Keep trying!" Sonic called out as he continued to attack the Egg Killer.

Amy sighed, then turned around to see a pack of Egg Pawns galloping towards her. "Sonic, Eggman's sending down his army!" She gasped and regained her grip on her hammer.

"Watch out!" Knuckles rushed in front of Amy, slamming down a robot before it struck her.

"Knuckles!" Sonic and Amy looked at the red echidna, surprised.

"We thought you had quit on us!" Sonic grinned and spin dashed towards the Egg Killer.

Knuckles raised his fists as he prepared to attack the robots surrounding him. "Let's just say I found my voice of reason." He began wildly slamming his large fists into the robots. "Are your attacks working on the Egg Killer?"

Sonic groaned as the giant robot sent him crashing to the ground. "Nothing." He stood up and glared back at all the robots. "None of my strongest ones will work either!"

"We can't do this unless you go super!" Amy joined in as she destroyed a few more robots.

Sonic stared at her, amazed, as she proceeded to take down a whole group of robot alone. He quickly shook his head to snap out of his daydreams. "As long as the Master Emerald is up there, I can't do anything!"

"It's not up there anymore!" Knuckles pointed to Rouge, Silver, Tails, and Cream, carrying the Master Emerald across the ice.

"How did you take it from Eggman?!" Amy glanced at the emerald as she spun her hammer in a deadly assault.

Rouge perked up her ears as they set the Master Emerald down on the ground. "We have our ways…"

"Tails!" Sonic yelled and jogged to the fox in disbelief. "What's up little buddy?" He said casually as if nothing had happened between them.

"Nothing much, Sonic." He smiled, understanding this was Sonic's way of apologizing for now.

"Knuckles…" Rouge rested her arm on the Master Emerald as Knuckles approached them. "Do you think you can neutralize the chaos emeralds' power with this?"

Knuckles exhaled and gratefully rubbed the Master Emerald. "I can do much more than just that…"

Knowing how powerful the Master Emerald was, everyone except Sonic stepped back just enough so the Egg Killer couldn't reach them. Knuckles raised his hands and, closing his eyes as the Master Emerald started to glow. He took a deep breath and began to recite something he had known for the basis of his life…

"_The servers are the seven chaos._

_Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart._

_The controller serves to unify the chaos…"_

"W-What's going on?!" Eggman screamed as the chaos emeralds started to float down to the ground. He bent over the edge of the balcony to see the chaos emeralds glowing brilliantly as they formed a circle around Sonic. "NOOO!!"

"_Master Emerald...hear my call!"_

Sonic's fur color started to change once again, this time to be a golden yellow as his eyes now sparkled red. The energy surged throughout him, and it seemed as if he was protected by the golden glow that burnt around him.

"Super Sonic…" Amy whispered admiringly as the icy wind blew past her.

"Hey tough guy," Super Sonic rose up to greet the Egg Killer as he hovered in the air. "You ready for a real fight?"

No longer being powered by the chaos emeralds, the Egg Killer backed up and tried to avoid the hedgehog. In a last attempt to kill him, the Egg Killer swung his large arm at Super Sonic, hoping to take him down. Super Sonic smirked, being unaffected by the swipe and thrust his arms back for an attack.

"Chaos…blast!" He shouted as the power burst out of him, creating a massive explosion near the robot. To finish the job, Super Sonic started to spin into a ball, creating a large field of electrical energy. Super Sonic threw himself at the robot, destroying its wiring as he created deep gashes in its armor. Defeated, the Egg Killer crashed to the ground, ceasing to move or attack. A loud uproar of excitement arose from the crowd as Super Sonic sank back down. His quills soon flattened down, and he regained his blue coloring as the chaos emeralds fell across the ice, now returning with power.

"We couldn't get to Eggman before he escaped, but Silver went to chase after him." Tails explained as Sonic looked back up at the balcony.

The hedgehog fixed his eyes on Tails, a little shaken by the fox's wounds. "It was brave of you to come here and rescue Cream alone." He kept his head downcast as he talked. "Do you think you can forgive me?"

Tails grinned and winked at Sonic cheerfully. "Why not? After all…you are my big brother."

Sonic laughed and playfully ruffled the bangs on Tails' head. Then he walked away, leaving Tails to socialize with Cream. Sonic looked around the area as he saw Knuckles and Rouge hugging.

"Has anyone seen Amy?" He questioned to no one in particular as he slid across the ice.

"She went to the waterfront." Knuckles replied then turned back to Rouge.

Sonic ran through the forest, but stopped in his tracks, coming upon a frail red object hidden in the snow. He knelt down on the ground and dusted the snow off, revealing a beautiful red rose. Sonic twisted it in his hand and smiled, getting an idea. He then hid the rose behind his back and continued sprinting through the forest to see Amy.


	12. A Rose

"So…" Rouge propped herself up against the Master Emerald and watched the sunset.

"What?" Knuckles leaned on the opposite side of the emerald and looked at her for a response.

She sighed and looked up at the echidna sadly. "Were you really thinking about killing yourself back there?"

Knuckles cringed at the question, and he looked down at his shoes uncomfortably. He remembered the piercing cold against his fur; the strong urge to drift off and never return to existence. "I was."

Rouge instantaneously started blushing, and Knuckles tilted his head to the side, confused by her humiliation. His eyes fell on his own large hand, which was slightly on top of hers. He too began to blush, and to make matters more discomfited, Rouge seemed very comfortable with this idea and entwined her fingers with his.

A warm, soft feeling surged throughout Knuckles' body, and it began to creep its way down his spine. Memories of giving up on life faded, and the soothing voice begging him to stand back up echoed through his mind. It only took three words from that voice to make him feel invulnerable, as if the weight of the world was no longer hanging over his shoulders. Three words that hadn't had the chance to return to her yet, but so desperately needed to. In the heat of the moment, he dashed to the other side of the emerald and pulled the bat close, making sure he would get the opportunity to tell her how he felt.

Rouge's ears perked up; baffled by the sudden feel of Knuckles' body against hers, and her heart raced as she felt Knuckles' warm breath over her. "Knuckles, what-"

"Rouge, listen." He said calmly and affectionately brushed his hand over her cheek. Knuckles gulped, trying to gain enough bravado while his face grew hot by the second. "I…I love you."

He caressed her gently in his arms, then steadily pulled her into a kiss. The kiss was brief, and Knuckles quickly broke it as he realized what he was doing. "I-I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Rouge smiled and held on to him more snugly, brining Knuckles even closer. "Who said I wanted you to stop?" They once again came together in a kiss, but this time, they didn't think about stopping for anything as the sun began to disappear over the moon.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Eggman!" Silver shouted as he hopelessly trudged through the forest in pursuit of Eggman, not noticing that the doctor had already gotten quite a bit ahead of him. "Come back! I'm not finished with you yet!" He stopped to catch his breath, every pant stinging more cold air on his throat. As night crept over the sky, he switched his direction and dejectedly started to walk back to the Blue Typhoon. "This is pointless…I've been on this freaky planet for days and I still haven't found Blaze…" He groaned and kicked a tree in frustration, toppling snow all over his head just as last time. Silver groaned and tried to dust off the snow. "Stupid trees!"

"You're so naïve…maybe that wouldn't happen if you kept you temper down…"

_That voice…_ Silver immediately froze in his tracks, and his jaw dropped. _It can't be… _he dared not turn to see her, too stunned for words.

"Aren't you happy to see me?"

He felt a warm hand touch his shoulder and the whip of a tail around his feet. Longing to see the face that had haunted his dreams for months, he turned around. The cat's soft purple fur seemingly danced in the wind, and her brown eyes glittered as she lovingly got the snow off Silver's head.

"B-Blaze…" Silver stammered, astonished, as Blaze slowly stepped in a little closer to him. "How did you get here?"

"Remember when I went missing a few months ago?" Blaze started, her hands resting on Silver's shoulders. Silver flinched at the very mention of the day, the worst of his life as he could assume. "On that day, I had found some kind of portal near Eggman's lab, and it looked dangerous, so I tried to destroy it. Eggman saw me, and before I could escape, he had activated the portal, sucking me in with it. He must have created some kind of chaos control, and it warped me to this planet. I've been here practically alone for months…"

She smiled sincerely as she looked at Silver's dazed expression. "I've missed you so much…" Before Silver could say a word, she smoothly placed her lips on his, and brought him in to a kiss. In that very moment, Silver's world stopped, and his mind went blank. He had been so lost; so out of it when Blaze was gone. Now that she back…and right there by his side, he could gradually feel his senses returning.

The kiss soon stopped, and Silver finally had enough courage to speak to her. "Let's go to the Blue Typhoon." He fondly grabbed her hand and they both started walking towards the ship together. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Amy quietly walked along the shoreline, being careful not to fall in the icy water. The battle was over, and everyone was celebrating…except her, as she decided to seclude herself from them, especially Sonic. A few days ago, she was running through the forest, urgently trying to get away from him. All the hurtful things he's said and done to her…it had caused so much pain. Yet, as she tapped her boot on the snow, she missed him. She formed a mental picture of her blue hero…his cocky smirk; his emerald green eyes. To her surprise, a small smile curved on her mouth, but she quickly shook her head to rid of the beautiful smile.

She had made a vow to herself to let Sonic go…but this vow became harder to keep as the days went by. The blue hedgehog greatly attracted her, and for some reason, she felt it difficult to live without his presence. Sonic had always saved her when she was in trouble, but most of the time, she just though he felt it was his responsibility. She stopped walking for a moment and stared blankly at the moon.

Too lost in her own thoughts, Amy didn't notice the ice slightly crack underneath her. Her ears shot up as the terrifying noise had become increasingly louder, and before she could react, the ice had completely caved in under her.

"SONIC!" Amy yelled desperately, but was too late as she was now submerged in the freezing water. She couldn't move from the cold, and it was so dark outside that no one would probably find her. Her life flashed before her eyes as she struggled to make it back up to the surface for air. Water filled her lungs, and she could do absolutely nothing about it as she sank to her death. As she choked on mouthfuls of icy water, something caught her attention.

A blue figure came near her in the water, swimming awkwardly as it avoided the ice. Amy tried to make out the figure, but her head was spinning, and it seemed like she was sinking faster. Not wanting to close her eyes, she felt something grab her and anxiously attempt to bring her back to shore. All she could hear was a steady heartbeat as she drifted off into the black.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Amy!" A voice frantically began shouting, causing Amy to come back to her senses. "Please wake up!" Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she wearily coughed, her body shivering from the cold. She felt a hand comfortingly touch her back, and looked up see her hero, smiling weakly as he sat next to her on the ground.

"It's alright, Ames…"Sonic held reassuringly on to her hand and helped her sit up. "I'm here."

Amy's eyes widened as she pondered on the thought of her near-death experience. "Sonic…did you swim?"

Sonic nervously looked down at the snow and bit his lip as not to let Amy see he was in pain. "I guess…" He mumbled and turned back to Amy, staring admiringly at her. "All I remember was you falling in the ice…and I just dived in after you."

Sonic blushed and moved in closer to Amy. She giggled and Sonic perked up his ears, mystified. "You really are a work of wonder, Sonic the Hedgehog…" Her loving smile faded quickly, her mind drifting on something else. "Thank you…for saving my life. I know you do it all the time, but this time, you probably didn't want to…" She closed her eyes and let the water drop sadly down her chin.

Sonic noticed this and smirked, reaching for something behind his back. "Amy…" Amy gasped as he held out a gorgeous red rose, slightly wet from the water that dripped from his body. "About that argument…" Sonic stuttered, keeping his attention on Amy and the rose. "I'm sorry I hurt you…I never wanted you to hate me, Ames. The only reason I run away from you…" He sighed and glanced sideways at the ground, ashamed. "Is because I'm scared."

"Scared?" Amy spoke softly and placed her hand over his. "Of what?"

"Losing you." Sonic's muscles tensed and he gazed in her eyes, his own full of fear and sorrow. "Whenever I'd run away from you, you would always follow me, no matter where I would go. If I ignored you, I could always expect that you'd come right back around and tell me how much I meant to you. And I figured that you did all this because you thought that I didn't like you, so I decided to keep pretending. I feared that if I really showed you how much I cared for you, you wouldn't pay as much attention to me. It was a stupid idea…"

"Sonic…" Amy inched a bit closer to him, sensing his discomfort in confessing all this to her. "I would never stop paying attention to you." She grabbed both of his hand and smiled. "You're not the kind of guy a girl forgets easily."

Sonic smirked and lightly touched brushed his hand across her face. "I need you Amy…more than you know. When you ran away from me a few days ago, I went insane; I lost my mind, believing that you would never wake up again." He took a deep breath, as he began to lose control of his thoughts. "I wouldn't know what to do without you."

Sonic's eyes showed pure terror, as if he were watching Amy crash through the ice all over again. "Then, you almost died, right in front of me. If I had lost you in the water…" He paused and strained himself from breaking down in front of Amy, who had tears coming out of her eyes. "The more I thought about it, the more it made me realize…I can't live without you." He continued on, his heart pounding, and his amorous stare focused on the jade green eyes that so hypnotized him. "I love you, Amy Rose."

"Sonic…" Amy cried, and for the first time in days, she felt alive. "I love you too!" She placed her hands under his chin, lifting his head so that it was level to hers. Amy gently cupped her hands around his face and pressed her lips against his. Sonic's tail shot up, and he blushed immensely from the kiss, but he soon returned it, wrapping his arms around her waist. They were no longer separate entities, and as the kiss became more passionate, neither of them knew what they were doing, but knew it was the one thing both had wanted for so long. When it ended, all they could do was sit there on the cold, ice floor, keeping warm from being so close to each other. As the moonlight reflected off their eyes, they keep a strong gaze, their fur still dripping wet, but not diminishing any of the splendor they saw in each other.

"Mr. Sonic!"

Both hedgehogs momentarily turned away to find Cream, rushing towards them. Her eyes were wide with excitement, but she didn't seem to be concerned as to why Sonic and Amy were lying on the floor.

"What's wrong, Cream?" Sonic questioned the rabbit, still smiling wide from the kiss. He blushed again as he noticed his arms were still around Amy, but nothing impelled him to separate from her.

"It's Tails! He took the chaos emeralds back from Eggman and he's working on the ship now. He said that with all the emeralds, he has enough power to fix up the Blue Typhoon!" She exhaled, a little tired from running, but nothing seemed to break her jubilant spirit.

Sonic and Amy exchanged thrilled glances as Cream caught her breath. "So that means…"

The rabbit cheerfully raised her hands, the anticipation overfilling her heart. "We're going home!"


End file.
